Older Women and Beliefs About Exercise Risk:

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Older Women and Beliefs About Exercise Risk:Karen P. Branigan a & Sandra O'Brien Cousins EdD ba Department of Physical Education & Sport Studies, The University of Alberta, Edmonton,AB, T6G 2H9b Department of Physical Education and Sport Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Al,T6G 2H9Published online: 22 Oct 2008.

To cite this article: Karen P. Branigan & Sandra O'Brien Cousins EdD (1996) Older Women and Beliefs About Exercise Risk:,Journal of Women & Aging, 7:4, 47-66, DOI: 10.1300/J074v07n04_05

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Older Women and BeliefsAbout Exercise Risk:

What Has Motherhood Got to Do with It?Karen P. Branigan, MPE

Sandra O’Brien Cousins, EdD

ABSTRACT. Preliminary research suggests that some active olderwomen perceive that the personal benefits of exercise far outweighthe risks. This study aimed to identify sociodemographic and life-style explanations for variations In older women’s risk perceptionsfor six fitness activities. A convenience sample of 43 women aged52 to 73 responded to a survey questionnaire. Multiple regressionanalysis controlling for age, hearth, and education indicated thatthose women who were-mothers held lower levels of perceived riskfor late life exercise than women who had never experienced themotherhood role. The motherhood variable, along with current activ-ity level, accounted for some 40% of the variance In risk percep-tions, an unexpected finding which will require future confirmation.Several possible explanations for this result are presented. [Articlecopies available from The Haworth Document Delivery Service:1-800-342-9678.]

INTRODUCTION

One of the unfortunate trends, which becomes evident over the life cycle,is that participation in health-promoting levels of exercise significantly

Karen P. Branigan and Sandra O’Brien Cousins are affiliated with the Depart-ment of Physical Education & Sport Studies, The University of Alberta, Edmon-ton, AB, T6G 2H9.

The authors wish to thank Art C. Burgess, Director of Campus Fitness andLifestyle Programs of the University of Alberta, and participants of Project Aliveand Well for their generous time and cooperation. Appreciation is also extendedto the Department of Physical Education and Sport Studies for funding researchassistance for the data analysis.

Journal of Women & Aging, Vol. 7(4) 1995E 1995 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 47

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JOURNAL OF WOMEN & AGING48

declines with age (Bouchard, Shephard, Stephens, Sutton & McPherson,1990; Spirduso, 1986). Of special concern are older women, who tend to beparticularly vulnerable to hypokinetic disease caused by insufficient levelsof daily physical activity (Vertinsky & Auman, 1988). The inactivity ofelderly women increases the stress plan on our current health care system,undermines the quality of late life for these women, and may have an evenlarger impact in the future as we move to an older population.In an attempt to understand this tendency to be sedentary in one’s older

years, several scientists have begun to explore the likely biological, psy-chological and social determinants of exercise behaviour for aging adults(McPherson, 1986; Shephard, 1978; Quinney, Gauvin, & Wall, 1994). Ofparticular utility to the understanding of elderly exercise behaviour hasbeen Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1986, 1989). Among anumber of cognitive constructs predictive of exercise behaviour (such asself-efficacy to exercise, and social reinforcement to be active), SCThypothesizes that outcome expectations or the anticipated consequences ofone’s behaviour are important in the decision to carry out the prospectivebehaviour (Maddux, 1993).Decision-making theories such as the Health Belief Model (Rosen-

stock, Strecher & Becker, 1988) consider human contemplation abouttaking action to protect or promote one’s health to be a type of cost-benefitanalysis. Since expected outcomes can be positive or negative, or a blendof both, the cognitive analysis may be a matter of determining whichbelief outweighs the other. Considering exercise as a health behaviour,positive expectancies about outcomes would refer to one’s beliefs aboutexperiencing benefits which are valued by the individual. According tolarge national studies, positive outcome expectancies for exercise are‘‘looking better,’’ ‘‘feeling better,’’ and ‘‘losing weight’’ (Fitness and Life-style in Canada, 1983; Stephens & Craig, 1988).In addition to beliefs about health benefits, an individual would likely

assess the personal costs, risks or liabilities to their health (negative expec-tancy). These negative expectancies for health-related behaviour have oftenbeen labelled as ‘‘risk perceptions’’ (O’Brien Cousins, 1993; Powell & Paf-fenbarger, 1985; Weinstein, 1984). According to Giovacchini (1983),‘‘safe behaviour’’ is defined as freedom from significant injury underunforeseeable conditions. Risk is further defined as the chance of gettinghurt, falling, or placing one’s self in a dangerous of hazardous condition.This kind of definition, if applied to sport and physical activity, may beinterpreted to mean that every activity has one or more risks associated withit, or at least a situation of zero risk is unlikely in most human undertakings.For the purpose of this study, risk perceptions were defined as an individu-

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Karen P. Branigan and Sandra O’Brien Cousins 49

al’s beliefs or expectancies about encountering negative outcomes withregard to one’s well-being, such as the subjective probability of coming tosome kind of personal harm in the exercise setting. The nature of that harmwas not specified so that risk perceptions, while aimed at physical harm,could conceivably include social and emotional meanings.Research is lacking about the cognitive features of older adults in relation

to the physical activities that they might be doing to promote and maintainhigher levels of health. Data is needed which would provide information onthe perceived (and actual) benefits and risks for physical activity in adults ofall ages, especially for the six most frequently utilized activities in theUnited States--walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, calisthenics, and rac-quet sports. Some evidence exists, however, to support the idea that fearsabout coming to personal harm may be a salient concern to older women asthey contemplate the outcomes of being more active (Weinstein, 1984,1988). For women over the age of 70, perceived risk for six fitness activitiesappropriate for older adults was significantly and negatively correlated withmovement confidence to perform the activities (r = .653, p < .001)(O’Brien Cousins, 1993). Thus, one’s confidence to undertake physicalactivity in late life seems to hinge on low expectations for personal risk.Knowing why some women form a positive opinion about late life exercisewhile the others harbour fears about participating would assist health pro-fessionals to understand why so few older women participate in the morevigorous forms of physical activity as they get older. In particular, insight isneeded about the personal and social context in which psychologicalbarriers to exercise are formed. The purpose of this study was to explain thevariability seen in beliefs about personal risk in exercise settings by explor-ing the life situational and personal attributes older women.Because women live up to seven years longer than men, and because

they are more susceptible to hypokinetic disease, this study is focusedbroadly on personal and situational factors which are associated withbeliefs about the consequences of involvement in moderate levels of exer-cise in older women. This study aims to understand why negative beliefsabout exercise are formed in the first place. Bandura (1988, 1989) claimsthat the environment provides the social and physical limitations withinwhich the individual must function and thus also provides the incentivesand disincentives (expectancies) for the performance of the behaviour. Theobjective of this study was to understand more specifically which socialand situational attributes are associated with negative expectancies aboutmoderate forms of exercise in older women. If contextual attributes suchas age, body size, health, education, life role, family size, and feelingsabout efficacy are important predictors of late life risk perceptions for

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exercise, then community advocacy and intervention for increased physi-cal activity can become more strategically focused on certain populations.In addition, scientists will have a better understanding about the contextualfeatures of the older woman’s environment which erode her confidence tobe active in late life.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The theory most closely associated with this study is Social CognitiveTheory (SCT) (Bandura, 1989). According to Dzewaltowski’s (1989,1990) findings, SC theory is particularly useful for explaining older adultphysical activity. The central basis for SCT is a belief called ‘‘self-effi-cacy,’’ or the belief that one has the ability to successfully complete thetask. Self-efficacy is such a powerful construct for explaining behavioursuch as exercise, that few researchers have adequately explored the othertheoretical elements of Social Cognitive Theory. Of interest to this study isthe construct called ‘‘outcome expectation.’’ Expectations about likelyoutcomes or consequences of one’s behaviour are claimed to be an impor-tant part of the motivational structure for behaviour (King, Blair, Bild,Dishman, Dubbert, Marcus, Oldridge, Paffenbarger, Powell & Yeager,1993). Whether or not a person anticipates certain outcomes may dependon their sense of efficacy. However, efficacy and outcome expectations areconceptually distinct: one may feel capable of performing a behaviour butsee no benefit in doing so. Another individual may conceive of greatbenefits of taking action but do not act because they judge that theypersonally lack the capability to succeed. Thus outcome expectations,while often associated with feelings of efficacy, warrant study for theirunique theoretical contribution.A person’s cognitive states influence assessment of the possible out-

comes of a situation. For example, if the proposed behaviour may result ina negative outcome such as physical harm (injury, pain) or psychologicalharm (performance failure), any attempt at this behaviour will depend onone’s belief that success is imminent and the probability of a negativeoutcome is low. Thus the process of deciding to engage in a behaviour hasbeen likened to a cost/benefit analysis (Rosenstock, 1974). If the analysisis cast in a health promotion/disease prevention setting, then exercisebehaviour occurs when it is seen to lead to certain personal benefits.Getting involved in exercise would require: perceptions that exercisewould indeed make a positive contribution to health; an understanding thata certain level of involvement would achieve these health benefits; thebelief that one is capable of performing a set of exercises; and a perception

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that the outcomes of activity are socially valued. The costs or negativeoutcomes of exercise might include real or perceived barriers such as time,effort, lack of facilities, lack of companionship, financial commitment aswell as physical, social and psychological constraints inherent in the pro-gram or exercise environment (Dishman, 1990).Other factors which will encroach on the decision to undertake physical

activity include personal mastery experiences, past vicarious experiencesand one’s current physiological state (King et al., 1993). Mastery experi-ences and vicarious events are dependent on the life situation and thecontext of opportunities for an individual over the life course.

Psychosocial functioning is, therefore, regulated by an interplay ofself-produced and external sources of influence. (Bandura, 1989,p. 1179)

Risk Perceptions

Future events cannot be causes of current motivation and actionbecause that would entail backward causation in which the effectprecedes the cause. However, by being represented cognitively in thepresent, conceived future events are converted into current motiva-tors and regulators of behaviour. (Bandura, 1989, p. 1179)

Through the employment of forethought older people motivate them-selves and they plan courses of action likely to produce the desired out-comes. In the process people strive to gain anticipated beneficial outcomesand forestall aversive ones (Bandura, 1989, p. 1180). Bandura claims thatin most social, intellectual and physical pursuits, those who judge them-selves highly efficacious will expect favourable outcomes, whereas thosewho expect poor performances will conjure up negative outcomes. Thusthe effects of outcome expectancies in performance motivation are partlygoverned by self-beliefs of efficacy.

There are many activities that, if performed well, guarantee valuedoutcomes, but they are not pursued if people doubt they can do whatit takes to succeed. Self-perceived inefficacy can thus nullify themotivating potential of alluring outcomes. (Bandura, 1989, p. 1180)

Bandura claims that outcome expectations are dependent on efficacypredictions when the activity involves highly skilled tasks. For low skilltasks, ‘‘expected outcomes contribute to motivation independently of self-efficacy beliefs when the outcomes are not completely controlled by the

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quality of the performance’’ (1989, p. 1180). Within the diverse realm ofsport and physical activity, a range of competency expectations exist. Theforethought ‘‘I can swim’’ is of a different performance quality than ‘‘I canswim 10 miles.’’ In this respect self-efficacy judgements and fears aboutdoing the activity also vary.Many situational factors become involved in a persons’ perception of

risk. Vertinsky and Auman (1988) suggest that the degree to which accu-racy and bias in beliefs occur varies with age. In the case of older adults,who generally disengage from the more strenuous and adventurous activi-ties as they get older, one would speculate that they feel more susceptibleto harmful outcomes as time goes on. Other personal variables likely tolead to heightened risk perceptions are lower education, higher body mass,and poorer health or sense of well-being. Family size and a woman’s liferole may add stresses which restrict her activities or elevate her concernsfor physical stress.Perceptions of harm in physical activity settings are likely to be espe-

cially salient for elderly women who experienced an historical periodwhich reinforced and advocated the natural weakness and delicacy of thefeminine body (Prentice, Bourne, Brandt, Light, Mitchinson & Black,1988; Vertinsky, 1990). Victorian ideals of modesty in movement hascarried over into women’s activity patterns throughout this century, as canbe seen in the lack of opportunity, experience and apprehension contempo-rary elderly women hold for vigorous forms of sport (O’Brien & Vertin-sky, in press). Feelings of self-efficacy for sports and physical games mustsurely be lacking in women who have lacked role models, have beensocially discouraged, and have not experienced mastery and success inphysical pursuits many times before.Beliefs about personal risk encompass many spheres of a person. For

example, risk perceptions about participating in exercise could includefeelings about coming to physical harm (such as heart attack), or experi-encing psychological trauma (such as poor performance leading to disap-pointment and low self esteem) since ‘‘outcomes are socially tied to aminimum level of performance’’ (Bandura, 1989, p. 1180). In addition,negative social consequences may be feared in the form of social ‘‘per-secution’’ whereby family or friends devalue the activity within the con-text of the advanced maturity of the individual.In each of these dimensions is the element of self-perception. Our

perceptions of risk are not always accurate with reality according toWeinstein (1984), who also suggested that people are consistently biasedabout risk factors relevant to perceptions of control. For example, fearsabout dying suddenly from a heart attack provoked by physical activity

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may be a forethought of older people when they consider joining anexercise class. They do not know the actual risk of such involvement forprovocation of heart attack, but they have heard of it happening to people,even much younger people, and since they know little about the actualbenefits of becoming more active, perceptions about risk may have muchto do with their decision to participate.Another factor which may act as a barrier to physical activity involve-

ment is the belief that few substantial benefits will result. In contemplatinginvolvement, prospective participants may hold the belief that exercise willlead to more negative outcomes than positive outcomes. In a study ofexercise beliefs of the elderly by Littlewood (1989), results showed that19% agreed with the statement that ‘‘regular exercise can do you more harmthan good.’’ In the same study, 69% supported the statement ‘‘there is nopoint worrying about a heart attack--you can’t prevent it.’’ For these people,preventing heart problems by exercising may be viewed more as a threatthan a benefit to their well-being. Since research investigating olderpeople’s beliefs regarding exercise participation is sparse, much more inves-tigation is necessary to fathom the psychological underpinnings of seden-tary behavior.

METHODOLOGY

The population under study was a group of older women who wereparticipating in Project Alive andWell at the University of Alberta. ProjectAlive and Well is a series of fitness and physical activity classes designedto promote the well-being of older adults. The sample was made up of 43women who volunteered to provide information on a self-administeredsurvey. Several background and belief variables were included as explana-tory variables in the study: age, education, domestic role, family size, bodymass, health and self-efficacy for fitness exercise. Activity in the pastweek was also an independent variable likely to predict the criterion vari-able. The amount of risk that older women might hold for exercise washypothesized to be greater in sedentary or less active older women.Age was obtained by subtracting the year of birth from 1993 in an

open-ended question, ‘‘In what year were you born?’’ Education wasassessed using eight categories from ‘‘no schooling’’ to ‘‘university orcollege degree(s).’’ Health status was assessed with the validated Per-ceived Well-Being Scale of Reker and Wong (1984) comprised of a 14item, seven-point Likert scale. Score-could range from 14 to 98. Thevariable Domestic role consisted of three life role responses: (1) ‘‘on myown,’’ (2) ‘‘homemaker, no children,’’ and (3) ‘‘mother (number of chil-

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dren).’’ This variable was then dummy coded into ‘‘0’’ for non-mothersand ‘‘1’’ for mothers. Family size was coded by the number of childrenreported (range = 0 to 9). Body mass was assessed with self-reportedheight and weight. A body mass index (BMI) score estimating propor-tional, or relative weight, was calculated by dividing weight in kilogramsby height in meters squared (BMI = KG/M2).The activity level of respondents was identified using the Older Adult

Exercise Status Inventory (OA-ESI), (O’Brien Cousins, 1993). Thisinstrument includes 37 older adult leisure-time physical activities assessedthrough a 7 day recall format and uses reported duration and MET units toestimate the numbers of kilocalories expended per week. The MET unit isan estimate of energy expenditure required by each activity which hasbeen derived from metabolic research (Taylor, Jacobs, Schucker, Kined-sen, Leon & Debacker, 1978). Thus the MET unit is an estimate of exer-cise intensity which originates from studies which calculate the amount ofoxygen it takes to fuel a particular activity. The OA-ESI was piloted with16 older women, and r values ranged from .403 (mild exercise), .756(moderate exercise) to .505 (vigorous exercise).Perceived risk, the dependent variable, was assessed using six questions

pertaining to prospective participation in six fitness-type exercises: 20minutes of brisk walking, 50 minutes of aquatic exercise, cycling an exer-cise bike for 20 minutes, doing 5 modified pushups from the knees, doing10 curlups, and performing a slow, sitting stretch. These activities wereselected to represent a variety of fitness activities in which older womenare known to engage. In addition, the six fitness activities were bothdescribed and illustrated by pictures to enhance reliability and face valid-ity. For each activity women were asked ‘‘how risky would this activity befor you?’’ The risk perception scale used a Likert format (1 to 5, ‘‘not at allrisky’’ to ‘‘very risky’’) for the level of risk involved. Total scores couldrange from 6 to 30, with 30 being highest level of perceived risk. Self-effi-cacy was evaluated the same way, by asking respondents how confidentthey felt about performing each of the six illustrated fitness activities, andresponding on a four-point Likert scale to the question: ‘‘How sure are youthat you can do this activity?’’ Responses ranged from ‘‘very sure’’ (4points) to ‘‘I know that I can’t do this’’ (1 point).

RESULTS

The sample ranged in age from 52-73 years with an average age of 63.65years. The level of education attained by this group of women was abovethe norm for this age group, ranging from some high school to completed

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university or college degrees. The median level of education for this groupwas some university or college education. Perceived well-being rangedfrom 54 to 96 with an average of 82 10. This score is higher than thewell-being score of 77.33 reported in another study on elderly womenaveraging 77 years of age (O’Brien Cousins, 1993). The women reportedtaking an average of 1.4 medications. In terms of activity level, the esti-mated weekly kilocalories spent on exercise activity was 1,912 1,184 kcal.Average weekly hours reported in physical activity were 6.8 hours. Thelatter two scores were higher than energy estimates and activity hoursprovided in other studies on older women. Self-efficacy for the six fitnessactivities produced a mean score of 20.1 3.3. In terms of generalizabilityfor this age group, the sample examined here was highly educated, moreefficacious for fitness activity, and reported better health relative to otherstheir age. The findings are consistent with expectations that activity levels areaffected by age, level of education, feelings of efficacy, and health status.Domestic role was coded as ‘‘mother’’ (1) and ‘‘non-mother’’ (0). In

the original format, descriptive information revealed that of the 43women, 33 classified themselves as mothers and 9 rated themselves aswomen without any children (21%). Reports in other literature suggestthat approximately 20% of people in this age cohort were childless. Thissample is consistent with these figures.The scores for perceived risk had a possible range of 6 to 30 (low to

high risk), with the sample range being 6 to 16, mean = 8.7, s.d. = 2.8. Asa younger, more active sample, it is not surprising to find that this riskscore is lower than, and about half, of that found with 327 women over age70 (O’Brien Cousins, 1993). Individual examination of the six activitiesindicates generally low risk perceptions for all activities and only smalldifferences between them. Table 1 shows the ranked means for perceivedrisk associated with each activity. Brisk walking was ranked as the lowestin risk while the curlup was ranked as the highest. These rankings aresimilar to previous work which found that,

Ten repetitions of the curlup was rated as the riskiest activity of thesix fitness exercises presented, with many women reported that theybelieved that they might hurt their back or neck. Both walking andstretching were considered to be of low risk with only 14% findingthese activities to be of any risk. (O’Brien Cousins, 1993, p. 211)

A correlation matrix between all the variables is presented in Table 2.Both variables representing family status lend support to the conclusionthat those women who were mothers (Figure 1), and had more children(Figure 2), held lower perceived risks about these exercise activities than

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TABLE 1. Risk Perception Scores of OlderWomen for Six Fitness Exercises(N = 43)

Mean Range s.d.

Curlups 2.000 1-5 1.183

Knee Pushups 1.732 1-4 .734

Toe Touch Stretch 1.357 1-5 .906

Aquafit Class 1.324 1-3 .709

Cycling 1.244 1-4 .699

Brisk Walking 1.146 1-5 .654

those women who were never mothers. The correlation between mother-hood and current exercise risk perception was r = .541 (p < .01), andthe corresponding correlation of number of children to current perceivedrisk was .406 (p < .01). In other words, women who were previouslymothers to several or many children rated their risk perceptions for fit-ness exercises lower than women who had few or no children. As well,negative associations were found between perceived exercise risk andperceived well-being (r = .432, p <.01), activity level (r = .374, p <.05) and self-efficacy for the six fitness exercises (r = .448, p < .01).These results are consistent with the hypotheses that people who ratethemselves low on health and well-being, who exhibit little vigorousactivity, and who judge they have minimal capability to participate suc-cessfully would be more likely to rate themselves to be more at risk inexercise settings.Multiple regression was conducted in order to develop an explanation

for older women’s variability in beliefs about exercise risk. Backwardstepwise regression with alpha-to-remove set at .15 was conducted toremove the weakest predictors from the equation. First removed was age,then children, health, education, body mass and activity level. Two inde-pendent variables remained as strong predictors of risk perception inelderly women. Just over 40% of the variance found in risk perception wasexplained by motherhood status and the self-efficacy variable, F = 5.182,p < .005, N = 35 (Table 3). The motherhood variable provided a strong andunexpected contribution, one which will require more investigation andconfirmation.

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57

TABLE 2. Correlation Coefficients for Regression Variables

RISK EDUCATION DOMESTIC ACTIVITY BODYMASS CHILDREN EFFICACY WELLBEING AGE

RISK 1.000

EDUCATION .139 1.000

DOMESTIC --.541 --.162 1.000

ACTIVITY --.374 --.178 .459 1.000

BODYMASS .332 --.006 --.322 .408 1.000

CHILDREN --.406 --.029 .905* .296 --.442 1.000

WELLBEING .315 --.013 --.135 .315 .191 --.057 1.000

AGE --.248 .047 .298 .341 --.191 .336 --.021 1.000

EFFICACY --.448 --.054 --.005 .348 --.199 1.110 .206 .122 1.000

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FIGURE 1. The Relationship of Exercise Risk Perceptions and MotherhoodStatus

7

8

9

10

11

12

1 2 3

Perceived

RiskofFitnessExercise

1 = Single, 2 = Homemaker, No children, 3 = Mother

FIGURE 2. The Relationship of Exercise Risk Perceptions and Number ofChildren

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

0 1 2 3 4 6 9

Perceived

RiskofFitnessExercise

CHILDREN

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Table 3. Unstandardized Regression Coefficients and Standardized Errorsfor the Regression of Risk Perceptions on Personal and Lifestyle Variables

Cognitive Full Model (N = 43) Reduced Model

Variables b S.E. b S.E.

INTERCEPT --.410 .748EDUCATION .088 .125DOMESTIC --.339 --.243 --.418*** --.136ACTIVITY .143 .153 --.353* --.146BODYMASS .074 .142CHILDREN --.022 .212HEALTH --.039 .164AGE --.077 .179EFFICACY --.361 .177

R2 = .45 .40Adjusted R2 = .27 .26R = .67 .64

* p < .05*** p < .0001

Risk Perception score = constant .418 Domestic role .353 Self-Ef-ficacy + error

Limitations

The findings of this study are limited in generalizability to alreadyactive older women. The homogeneity of this study sample was evident inthe high state of self-reported well-being, the high level of education, andhigh efficacy scores held for the six fitness activities. A volunteer conve-nience sample serves to limit the natural variability inherent in normalpopulations of women this age, thus making statistical inferences aboutvariability more difficult using regression analysis. As with any researchwork, resource constraints make a convenience sample more practical.However, any bias toward homogeneity in the sample tends to lead tounderestimates of the relationships found since the sample variability isreduced by this bias.Another limitation is error introduced when there is low reliability on

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any of the variables. A two-week test-retest reliability coefficient achievedon the perceived risk variable failed in pilot stay work (r = .266; n.s.). Thisfinding was hard to explain as the counterpart variable of perceived bene-fits reached a reliability of r = .837; p < .001. One possibility is thatknowledge about the benefits of physical activity is a better known andmore stable trait whereas perceptions about risks are internally altered andminimized as participation in exercise increases. Subsequent reliabilitytests with similar populations has produced coefficients of .665 to .845.

DISCUSSION

This study aimed to identify sociodemographic and lifestyle explana-tions for variations in older women’s risk perceptions for six fitness activi-ties. Of interest is the finding that motherhood status of late life womenwas a strong predictor of current beliefs about exercise risk. Older womenwho rated themselves as mothers, and indeed, who had more children,were more likely to hold lower risk perceptions for late life exerciseparticipation. Very little information is currently available concerning theoutcome expectations that older people hold for exercise participation.There is little information to explain the role of motherhood in the forma-tion of low risk perceptions.Eight life span stages of development have been presented by Erik

Erikson. These stages include; 1st year, 2nd year, 3-6 years, 7th year-pu-berty, adolescence, early adulthood, middle age, and old age (Cole & Cole,1989). Each stage is characterized by a change of relationships betweenparent and child. This may have an impact on beliefs, and behaviourswhich carry over into activity patterns. Exactly what the relationship isbetween motherhood and late life beliefs about exercise risk is unknown.However several explanations are plausible and are discussed next.Recent data from Denmark suggests that motherhood does affect the

lifestyle and physical fitness of young women (Anderson, & Haraldsdottir,1994). But as far as we know, this is one of the first findings of a relation-ship between late life perceived risk in exercise and motherhood. At thispoint, it is difficult to explain the finding that mothers in later life per-ceived significantly lower personal risks for six fitness exercises thanthose women who never assumed a parent role. The possibility exists thatthe variable of motherhood is a proxy for another construct. Counteringthis possibility is the variable family size which assessed the number ofchildren reported (which was of course highly correlated with being amother). Thus these variables acted as proxies for each other in the statisti-cal analysis.

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If we interpret these results with the constructs of Social CognitiveTheory (Bandura, 1989), it would appear that motherhood status in someway could affect one or all of: a woman’s incentive (motivation) to be activein the older years, a woman’s self-efficacy for vigorous forms of physicalactivity, a woman’s support to be active by her younger family members,and/or outcome expectations of participating. All of these may be formed orinfluenced through past mastery experiences, vicarious opportunities overthe life course, and social modelling in physical activity situations.

1. Habitual Activity Hypothesis

By late mid-life, mothers usually experience the empty nest syndromewhereby the demands of caring for a family and household may diminishmarkedly. Previous to this more serene lifestyle, some mothers have faceddecades of physically demanding days with the raising of children.Women with children may have learned how to tap into their personalenergy resources from habitual accommodation over the years. The pacethat women would become accustomed to in rearing several children mayplay a factor in their chronic expression of energy and choices of activities.For those women who have never raised children, their leisure time mayassume a slower pace early in life and therefore physical activity, by latelife, is not expressed in very vigorous ways. Being less vigorous, andbeing unaccustomed to feelings of regular physical exertion, childlessolder women by late life may perceive more stress in doing fitness-en-hancing activities.

2. Social Network and Social Support Hypothesis

Mature mothers, but not childless women, experience the ‘‘empty-nest’’ and may miss the action of the family within the home, or may missthe social encounters which occur in the process of raising a family. Thuswomen who no longer experience the activities of a young family may feela need to reestablish stronger community ties to replace the diminishingfamily role. Thus they may seek social activities outside of the home andsome of these activities may take the form of supervised physical activity.Raising more children could increase a woman’s prospects for encounter-ing diverse opportunities and ultimately finding a personally enjoyableand suitable active recreation. Having more children raises the likelihoodthat a mother will have continued encouragement from at least one familymember to be physically active as she ages. Still another possibility exists.The social network of women necessarily expand with the care and activi-ties of children. Women with more children may have developed larger

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social networks and developed stronger networks over a larger period oftime. The network formed with other mothers may insure that women withchildren have a strong base of friends with which to draw companionshipand feelings of support for activity as they enter late life.

3. Risk Acceptance Hypothesis

A third explanation for low risk perceptions in late life mothers is thatin raising families, mothers gain knowledge and experience with physicalactivity and therefore may learn that real risk is minimal. This hypothesishas theoretical support in Social Cognitive Theory as mastery experiencesstrengthen one’s motives to act again. According to Erikson’s stages ofdevelopment, mothers learn to ‘‘let go’’ of the protective nature theydevelop for infants. The process of learning to let go occurs over time aschildren grow, but it necessitates watching those one is used to protecting,taking more and more risks. Forced to observe their children take steps toindependence, mothers may learn to accept that physical risks are part oflife and that generally, physical activities are enjoyable and healthy waysto spend one’s time.

4. Risk Desensitization

A fourth explanation proposed for why late life mothers hold lowperceptions of exercise disk may be a desensitization to general risk.Motherhood, itself, entails certain risk-taking simply considering thetrauma of 40 weeks of pregnancy with each child followed by the birthprocess and years of commitment to child rearing. Childbirth has histori-cally been a life-threatening event for women, and was the leading causeof female mortality only some decades ago. The uncertainty of maternaloutcomes is surely one of the greatest risk-taking activities of women.Thus when considering the physical risks of exercise, the comparative riskseems low compared to the life risk that women assume when theybecome mothers.

5. Exposure to Exercise Benefits

Mothers generally try to promote the health of the family and thereforepromote activities which are good for their children. Mothers who areactive with their children would directly experience the benefits of activeliving and learn that physical activity is a healthy, low risk thing to do.Some mothers may not personally engage in the sport and exerciseinvolvements of their family, but these women may observe the positive

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contribution that physical activity to the well-being of their children. Asthey escort children to various community activities, mothers may witnessand develop motivation for various forms of physical recreation whichappear to be fun and appealing. They may observe other women partici-pating for fun and fitness and realize that interesting’ activities are avail-able to them in the community. Being exposed to the physical activitiesoffered in the community, mothers may form strong intentions to partici-pate once their families are more mature. In late life, leisure opportunitiesfor mothers may increase and they are than able to become more active inthe recreational setting.

6. Efficacy Hypothesis

In this study, efficacy and motherhood status were simultaneous andindependent predictors of exercise risk beliefs. Still, the possibility existsthat playful patterns of physical activity are promoted or better maintainedover the life course with women who experience their adult years withchildren. Mothers may be thereby encouraged to maintain some involve-ment in vigorous games, sport and physical activity since they mayencounter more frequent opportunities to have a personal involvementalongside their family. Opportunities to model other adults and to developpersonal efficacy for sport and physical leisure may be facilitated for amother through her involvement with other parents interacting with youngpeople and members of her family.

7. Genetic Hypothesis

Another important prospect is that women who manage to have severalchildren (and ultimately survive childbirth) may be physically strongerand genetically fitter. By nature of their genetic endowment, some womenare more energetic and more apt to express this in their daily lifestylepatterns. These women may self-select to take on parenting more readilythat other women. Women who feel that they are less healthy or capablemay choose not to have children, and thus childless women may naturallyexhibit less vigorous pursuits over the life course, and ultimately formhigher perceptions of risk for exercise.The explanations provided in this paper are only tentative ideas about

why late life women who experienced the role of being a mother seem tobe advantaged in expressing lower anxiety about participating in late-lifefitness activities. Further studies are needed to clarify which of the pro-posed hypotheses are more useful or whether motherhood is simply actingas a proxy variable for another construct altogether.

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CONCLUSIONS

The objective of this study was to identify sociodemographic and life-style explanations for variations in older women’s risk perceptions for sixfitness activities. Being a mother in earlier adulthood along with currentefficacy for moderate vigorous physical activities were significantexplanations for perceiving low risk for personal involvement. SocialCognitive Theory claims that individual motivation to take action isformed when the individual feels efficacious for a successful performance.This cognitive factor, along with life context, were explored in this studyto explain why elderly women hold differing risk perceptions for personalrisk in exercise settings. As expected, personal efficacy was a significantpredictor but of all the controlling contextual variables, only motherhoodstatus was significant. Some of the possible explanations include: thehabitual and daily exertion of mothers becomes a life long pattern; by latelife, mothers seek social and physical activities to replace the activities oftheir mature family; mothers are advantaged in knowledge about the lowrisks of physical activities by sheer exposure to young participants; moth-ers are by nature more risk-accepting by taking on the risks of bearing andraising a family; mothers learn first-hand appreciation for the benefits ofmore active living; mothers inadvertently receive more access to a com-munity network supporting supervised adult physical recreation; andmothers represent a self-selected group of women who may be geneticallyand physiologically more robust than women who do not choose to bemothers.The association of motherhood and risk perceptions for exercise is

only one of the puzzle pieces which require further exploration ofwomen’s lives. If motherhood can alter the psychological underpinningsof a woman’s late life leisure-time activity, what else can motherhoodalter? What is the contribution of motherhood status to longevity, tochronic illness, to disease prevention, to mental health and so on? Thegoal of this study was to develop an understanding of individual andsituational attributes which might explain fears about coming to harm inexercise settings in late life. Confirmation of the finding that motherhoodhas a unique role to play in explaining risk perceptions in elderly womenis a high priority. If indeed this phenomenon can be duplicated in otherresearch work, possibilities exist for increasing our understanding offactors, such as risk perceptions, which may contribute to too many olderwomen being susceptible to hypokinetic disease. Both qualitative andquantitative studies are needed to illuminate which beliefs and life cir-cumstances act as significant barriers to more active lifestyles. Severalpossible explanations have been considered in this paper with the support

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of Social Cognitive Theory. However, the explanations for late life riskperceptions in this paper are certainly conjectural and have to this pointignored the perceived risks of same-age men. The question remains,‘‘What has motherhood got to do with lowered perceived risks in late lifeexercise behavior?’’

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Older Women and Beliefs About Exercise Risk:

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